For our last weekend tour, we splurged on a rental car and a trip to the northwest part of Costa Rica, to the province of Guanacaste. This is the region many people from the US and Canada visit and buy time shares. Since it was the week after the big Easter holiday, the beaches, hotels, and restaurants were quiet. Just what we wanted! We lounged around,swam, checked out the tourist shops, and ate lots of fresh seafood (including a shrimp, mango ceviche that was fabulous). Hermosa means beautiful and it was. From the picture you can see that our hotel had a pool and Jacuzzi (which does wonderful things for the ladies' hair)—plus it was way up on the hill so it had a fabulous view.
Driving went well. We were glad to have had some time to learn our way around and to observe the driving patterns. Two months ago, it seemed chaotic. Now we know the main roads and the main cities and generally where one place is in relation to another. Traffic still is pretty fast and fluid, but we were more prepared to go with the flow. “Drive like a Tico” was our slogan.
By the way—Tico or Tica is the Costa Ricans’ name for themselves. It comes from their tendency to add a –tico suffix to words. For example, “un momento” becomes “un momentico” (“one moment” altered to “one little moment”). And I use a time example so that I remember to tell you about Tico time. That is the name for their relaxed attitude about time—things happen eventually but no one it too uptight about schedules. Ironically, everyone is up early and off to work. Our students were surprised—they thought Tico time would mean everything would start later. Part of the earliness is that it gets light about 5, and the equatorial sun is already high in the sky by 8, so the cool morning time for doing things is early and brief. Then there’s time to be slower (or late) the rest of the day. And it’s warm enough that rushing around in the mid-day heat does not make sense. We hope to bring at least some of this casual sense of time home with us. Do you think my boss will like it?
Driving went well. We were glad to have had some time to learn our way around and to observe the driving patterns. Two months ago, it seemed chaotic. Now we know the main roads and the main cities and generally where one place is in relation to another. Traffic still is pretty fast and fluid, but we were more prepared to go with the flow. “Drive like a Tico” was our slogan.
By the way—Tico or Tica is the Costa Ricans’ name for themselves. It comes from their tendency to add a –tico suffix to words. For example, “un momento” becomes “un momentico” (“one moment” altered to “one little moment”). And I use a time example so that I remember to tell you about Tico time. That is the name for their relaxed attitude about time—things happen eventually but no one it too uptight about schedules. Ironically, everyone is up early and off to work. Our students were surprised—they thought Tico time would mean everything would start later. Part of the earliness is that it gets light about 5, and the equatorial sun is already high in the sky by 8, so the cool morning time for doing things is early and brief. Then there’s time to be slower (or late) the rest of the day. And it’s warm enough that rushing around in the mid-day heat does not make sense. We hope to bring at least some of this casual sense of time home with us. Do you think my boss will like it?
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